LMAS won a 2018 Critic's Choice award in the 2018 Best of Louisville awards.
Photo by Mickie Winters
Louisville Metro Animal Services, 3705 Manslick Road
Need a hiking mate? Want a snuggle buddy for the best nap ever? Have a hankering to improve your fastball with a retrieval partner? Take a shelter dog from Louisville Metro Animal Services as part of the Field Trip Foster Program.
Stephanie Jackson, the LMAS foster coordinator, says that in the year since the program was established, she’s seen an uptick in adoptions for long-stay residents and dogs over 40 pounds — both typically less likely to be adopted. She says some people want to adopt a dog after seeing what it’s like to have one on a field trip. “Seeing a dog on a couch or at a barbeque kind of puts a dog into their life,” Jackson says. Since the program started, Jackson says euthanasia rates due to behavioral problems have dropped by half.
The program’s only restrictions are that the dogs cannot go to a dog park or meet your own pets without approval. After a single, one-hour orientation, you can take a dog out of the shelter for at least an hour. “It’s a really easy thing to do,” Jackson says.
This originally appeared in the July 2018 issue of Louisville Magazine as a Best of Louisville Critic's Choice winner. To subscribe to Louisville Magazine, click here. To find us on newsstands, click here.
To see more Critic's Choices, click here.
